Chmutina-Meding2019_Article_ADilemmaOfLanguageNaturalDisas.pdf (361.25 kB)
A dilemma of language: ‘‘Natural disasters’’ in academic literature
journal contribution
posted on 2019-09-16, 13:25 authored by Ksenia ChmutinaKsenia Chmutina, Jason Von MedingFor decades sections of the academic community have been emphasizing that disasters are not natural. Nevertheless, politicians, the media, various international organizations—and, more surprisingly, many established researchers working in disaster studies—are still widely using the expression ‘‘natural disaster.’’ We systematically analyzed the usage of the expression ‘‘natural disaster’’ by disaster studies researchers in 589 articles in six key aca- demic journals representative of disaster studies research, and found that authors are using the expression in three principal ways: (1) delineating natural and human-induced hazards; (2) using the expression to leverage popularity; and (3) critiquing the expression ‘‘natural disaster.’’ We also identified vulnerability themes that illustrate the con- text of ‘‘natural disaster’’ usage. The implications of con- tinuing to use this expression, while explicitly researching human vulnerability, are wide-ranging, and we explore what this means for us and our peers. This study particu- larly aims to stimulate debate within the disaster studies research community and related fields as to whether the term ‘‘natural disaster’’ is really fit for purpose moving forward.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Published in
International Journal of Disaster Risk ScienceVolume
10Issue
3Pages
283 - 292Publisher
SpringerVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Springer under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acceptance date
2019-09-02Publication date
2019-09-13Copyright date
2019ISSN
2095-0055Publisher version
Language
- en
Editor(s)
Peijun ShiDepositor
Dr Ksenia ChmutinaUsage metrics
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